Category Archives: Photography

We’re back for another go at this reef-aquarium hobby. This week’s subjects include Peter Hyne’s Toronto aquarium, NERAC, Jimmie Yuen’s old-school equipment, and what is an advanced reef keeper. Download the podcast here, or subscribe to our podcasts at iTunes. Also, follow us on Twitter at reefthreads.—Gary and Christine

Good afternoon from Curacao! I’m busy in the deep-water lab today cleaning out my old photo aquariums and running around town buying some new ones. The aquariums themselves are in good working order and can be used for other things I just can’t use them to do photos in any more because of fine scratches on the front. When you combine a 105 macro lens with a Nikon D-800 and shoot at F-40 through the glass you pick up every little detail including fine scratches that look like they are on the fish but they are from the glass. That’s why it’s just easier to replace them regularly so you don’t have to spend hours working in Photoshop removing unwanted lines. My two Banded Coral Shrimps, Stenopus hispidus are still hanging out in the same vase sponge for months now, I stop and say hi to them every time I swim by

Good morning friends, I’m off to a late start, had to do a quick dive to check a leaking housing that will now have to be sent off for repair. I have a drop dead beautiful colony of Grooved Brain Coral for you all today just sitting all by itself on a sandy plateau with no other corals in sight! These have to be some of the coolest looking corals on the planet, they can be found in the 3-135 foot range and can grow to be about four feet wide, this one here was about three. Grooved Brain coral colonies are known for forming beautiful hemispherical heads just like you see above. They have deep, often narrow, polyp bearing valleys that are separated by broad ridges with wide conspicuous trough-like grooves.

Good morning friends! Our friends at Ikelite have just introduced a whole new line of products for all your blue-light diving needs. The photo above shows my Nikon D-300s all set up and ready to go. I have the Yellow Barrier Filter over my 105 macro lens, two Dichroic Excitation Filters over each of my DS-160′s strobes, a VEGA Video/photo light with a Dichroic Excitation Filter (to search with), a pair of Yellow Barrier Filter for the dive mask and my trusty Gamma LED (white light) which I use for an aid in focusing.

It’s podcast time again. In this week’s show we talk about Rod’s Food, water testing, the Port of Miami dredging disaster, Michael Paletta’s article about hobby costs, and Christine’s milk-filter-sock experiments. Download the podcast here, or subscribe to our podcasts at iTunes. Also, follow us on Twitter at reefthreads.—Gary and Christine

Good morning friends, I have a very hard to find, rarely ever seen, Red-Orange Branching Sponge, Ptilocaulis sp. In the 11 years I have been here I have only ever found five different specimens at five different dive sites and believe it or not they are all still there! For those few Caribbean sponge lovers it’s one of the coolest sponges we have, it’s got this crazy rough texture and brilliant red-orange coloring, what more could you ask for?? The surface is covered with conical projections, or spicules. Ptilocaulis is a genus of demosponges. The species within this genus are usually red or orange

Stable water parameters make for healthy corals. Are you testing your water?

Craig Bingman leaves no stone unturned this week in our in-depth discussion about water testing. It’s a terrific show packed with information about a critical component of reef keeping. Don’t miss it. Download the podcast here, or subscribe to our podcasts at iTunes. Also, follow us on Twitter at reefthreads.—Gary and Christine

Good morning from wet Curacao! Yes, we are finally getting rain and it is great! I have a beautiful little colony of Pillar Corals, Dendrogyra cylindrus for you all today that I found last year at my favorite dive site on the island, Whatamulla which is located near the western tip of the island and is only accessible by boat. These spectacular “pillar-like” stony corals grown straight up and can reach a length of about 10 feet, that’s a tall coral! I normally see these in the 35-50 foot range but they can be found as deep as 65 foot and as shallow as 4, that’s quite a difference in depth. Pillar coral (Dendrogyra cylindricus) is a hard coral or stony coral (order Scleractinia) found in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea

Reefs.com is the world's leading destination for sustainable coral reef farming and the aquarium hobby. We offer a free open forum and reef related news and data to better educate aquarists and further our goals of sustainable reef management.